Dio claims that on his deathbed, Septimius told his sons Caracalla and Geta “Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers and scorn all other men.” He was the first ruler in the Year of Five Emperors and eventually, Septimius Severus took the throne and held onto it until he died in 211 AD. In ‘Roman History,’ Cassius Dio wrote about how the title of Emperor was more or less ‘auctioned off’ upon the death of Pertinax in 193 AD. This is what happened to Severus, but his family must take much of the blame for this situation occurring in the first place. The man who had the army at his command could usurp the throne and murder the Emperor. The Third Century crisis brought about the phenomenon of ‘ Barracks Emperors.’ These were men who had a strong military background and used their power to curry the favor of soldiers. History Extra 1 – The Emergence of Barracks Emperors But what were the main causes of the Third Century crisis? Read on to find out. Even though it lasted for almost 200 more years in the West, it emerged from The Anarchy fundamentally changed. This changed in the years immediately following the death of Severus, as Rome lurched from crisis to crisis and only barely survived. Yes, it had lost notable battles but was never in genuine danger of falling apart. For the previous two and a half centuries, the Empire enjoyed relative security. Although Cassius Dio had complained about Rome entering an ‘age of iron and rust,’ which meant ‘decay,’ no one could have predicted the carnage that would unfold upon the death of Severus. The crisis officially began with the death of Emperor Alexander Severus who was assassinated by Maximinus Thrax’s rebellious troops in 235 AD. Also known as ‘The Anarchy,’ it involved the collapse of governmental authority in Rome and resulted in the military becoming inextricably linked to the throne.
During this period, the Empire almost collapsed in the face of economic depression, plague, foreign invaders, and civil war.
The Third Century crisis in the Roman Empire lasted from 235-284 AD and was a period of utter chaos.
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